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Interim finance director: Arlington earned about $39 million in investment returns in FY ’25, cites AP automation and vendor verification moves
Summary
Interim finance director Spencer Slattery briefed council on a consolidated financial stability priority, outsourcing of hotel-occupancy tax compliance and check printing, investment earnings (~$39 million), upcoming projects (Fire Station 8, City Tower moves) and vendor/accounting automation plans (Relish, PaymentWorks).
Spencer Slattery, Arlington’s interim director of finance, presented the quarterly update on the council priority to "preserve financial stability and resilience," detailing operational changes and several near-term projects during the council’s Dec. 9 afternoon session.
Slattery said the city consolidated dozens of business-plan items into the new priority and highlighted several administrative changes intended to improve compliance and efficiency. "We have outsourced the compliance and administration of our hotel occupancy taxes to a third party," Slattery said, and the city recently moved check‑printing to a banking partner to reduce fraud risk.
On investment performance, Slattery reported that the city’s investment portfolio generated approximately $39,000,000 in interest earnings in FY ’25, an outcome he attributed largely to the higher-rate environment. "We have one of the strongest performances, I would say, within DFW," he said.
The presentation included infrastructure updates: Fire Station 8 (a double-company station) is near completion with a move-in scheduled in January, and City Tower reoccupancy is underway with remaining departments expected to return in January. Slattery also described a pilot with Enterprise to explore leasing some civilian fleet vehicles and an RFP process for new budget software to replace older systems.
Council members focused questions on integration and vendor management. Slattery said Relish — an accounts-payable (AP) machine‑learning product — is a premier Workday partner and will work within Workday’s OCR/AP functionality to route invoices with fewer manual holds. PaymentWorks, he said, will onboard vendor verifications and provide an insurance policy around vendor verification services.
Slattery said the city spends about $340,000,000 annually through accounts payable and emphasized the projects are intended to increase security and reduce manual workload. He closed by noting staff will return with more detail on specific timelines and any budget implications.
